Board index » Watched from the Window, with a Red Mosquito... » Pearl Jam




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 47 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Rate Wash
5 Stars: The kind of clean you can only get from some really fancy soap made out of eucalyptus leaves and babies tears 31%  31%  [ 18 ]
4 Stars: The kind of clean you can only get from using a bidet 43%  43%  [ 25 ]
3 Stars: A bath 15%  15%  [ 9 ]
2 Stars: A shower 10%  10%  [ 6 ]
1 Stars: Deoderant and out the door 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
0 Stars: I just spray myself down with lysol and call it a day 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 58
Author Message
 Post subject: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:17 am 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
Vedderforpresident wrote:
Wash


Oh please let it rain today.
This city's so filthy, like my mind in ways.
Oh, there was a time, like a clean new taste...
Smiling eyes before me, inches from my face.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.

Sin to sell, buying just a need.
Just who planted all the devils seeds?
And what the truth, the truth that lies at home...
It's on the inside, and I can't get it off.

Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.

What's clean is pure, but hey,
I'm white on the outside, though I stray...
What she don't know today might kill us both tomorrow.
Bring it back someway...bring it back, bring it back...
Back to the clean form, to the pure form.

Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.
Wash my love.

Wash was, according to Stone, one of the earliest songs written together as a band. As with many songs from the Ten Era, Wash deals with issues of betrayal, sex and love. At the song's core is minimal guitar work, relying more heavily on the atmosphere that is created rather than a driving rhythm or riff, simplicity, perhaps starkness, is key here. As with most Ten songs re-released on Lost Dogs we have multiple versions, and I have to say that this is the only modern take of a Ten song that I prefer over the original. Eddie's vocals fit perfectly (they seem more desperate), Jeff's bass has been cleaned up and permeates the songs beautifully and Krusen's drumming is perfection, best showcased just after the second chorus. Stone summed up Mike's performance perfectly "I love the anti guitar solo by Mike. He sort of rubs his strings and with minimal effort colours the solo section beautifully", indeed the whole song is based on minimal, but very effective guitar work from Stone and Mike. This song just has an intense slow burn and simmer right up until the last 30 seconds when the pent up rustration, rage even, of song's main character explodes. This song is unlike most Ten songs in that it builds and reliles on a fantastic atmostphere.

Lyrically Wash is not complex, perhaps due to its instantaneous formation, being a 'one take and the lyrics were done' song. It does, however have some classic lines: "This city's so filty, like my mind in ways" or "What's clean is pure, but hey, I'm white on the outside, though I stray...What she don't know today might kill us both tomorrow." Wash relies on the passion and intensity of delivery rather than an interesting social commentary or lyrical complexity (as is the case with a lot of Ten). It has been said on this forum before, and by other music commentators, that Eddie is one of the best male vocalists when it comes to empathising with female characters and singing from a female perspective. I think Wash is a good example.

My take on the song is that the main character, a prostitute, is trying to deal with the morality of what she is doing. How can she ever separate the rest of her life from how she makes money? Her day to day living is tainted by her interactions with her customers.

"Sin to sell, buying just a need."

She wants her life to be separated from what she does for money, wants her love (perhaps for other men) to be separate.

"Wash my love"
"Bring it back ...to the clean form, to the pure form"

So, this may be a partner song to Deep, expressing the male obsesssion with sex and it's effect on women, or perhaps even the live improv. of that time "Saying No".

What is interesting about the song is that it could just as easily been viewed as portraying a man trying to deal with his involvement with a prostitue, his obsession with sex and how it may destroy his existing relationship. There are multiple lines that could be seen from either point of view.

"What she (his wife, girlfriend) don't know today might kill us both tomorrow"
"Just who planted all the Devil's seeds?"

The thought and experience of sleeping with someone outside his relationship was at one time exciting,

"Oh, there was a time, like a clean new taste...
Smiling eyes before me, inches from my face."

But now it has tainted everything.

"This city's so filthy, like my mind in ways."

If I had never heard the Lost Dogs version this song would be a 3, but the quality improves dramatically on the newer take. 4 stars and a testament to the quality of the Ten Sessions, even the B-sides. A fantastic song to throw into a live show, especially as an opener, however it's a good thing it isn't played very often.

- As a side note, I really dont like the speed version of Wash from 1992. It destroys everything good about the song, the slow burn and building anger towards the end, the great solos are changed and it becomes quite boring when it's played at that tempo.

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:21 am 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
nice write up. You're right--this is a particularly 'atmospheric' song for the Ten sessions. I never saw this as a song about prostitution, but that interpretation certainly works. For me Wash was a song about not feeling like you can move past all the dark places in your soul (or the ways in which the world itself corrupts that which is innocent and fragile in us) and make yourself clean enough that you can give yourself to someone else (or keep the person you have).

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:21 am 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
this is a 3.5 star song for me, but it's probably closer to 3 than 4.

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:22 am 
Offline
User avatar
Red Mosquito, my libido
 Profile

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am
Posts: 91597
Location: Sector 7-G
Never thought about it too deeply, but I love this song. 4 stars.

_________________
It takes a big man to make a threat on the internet.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:26 am 
Offline
User avatar
Coast to Coast
 Profile

Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:21 am
Posts: 23078
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gender: Male
MVP for this song: Jeff Ament.

_________________
For more insulated and ill-informed opinions, click here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:28 am 
Offline
User avatar
Red Mosquito, my libido
 Profile

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am
Posts: 91597
Location: Sector 7-G
theplatypus wrote:
MVP for this song: Jeff Ament.

yup

_________________
It takes a big man to make a threat on the internet.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:28 am 
Offline
User avatar
Force of Nature
 Profile

Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:04 am
Posts: 447
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Gender: Male
Quote:
- As a side note, I really dont like the speed version of Wash from 1992. It destroys everything good about the song, the slow burn and building anger towards the end, the great solos are changed and it becomes quite boring when it's played at that tempo.


dunno, i really like the speed wash.

This was one of the first pearl jam songs i ever heard and it took me abit to get into but by the end of the song Eds vocal delivery had me hooked.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 12:58 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Force of Nature
 Profile

Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:36 pm
Posts: 578
Location: Canada
Loved this song as the Ottawa 05 opener! 4/5.

_________________
Montreal - 98,00,03,05
Barrie - 98
Ottawa - 05, 11
Toronto - 06, 09
New York - 08 (x2)
EV Solo - Vancouver (08) x2, Montreal (08), Toronto (08), Hartford (11)


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:38 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Supersonic
 Profile

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:55 pm
Posts: 11320
Location: Brooklyn
Gender: Male
Age has given this song 4 stars. A few years ago I might have given it 5...

Nice write-up.

_________________
Anita Brookner wrote:
Great writers are the saints for the godless.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 6:34 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Unthought Known
 Profile

Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:52 pm
Posts: 8288
i never really cared for this one. dumb song name too. 2 or 3 stars

_________________
Sweep the leg!


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:20 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Unthought Known
 WWW  Profile

Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 4:33 am
Posts: 8422
Location: Berthier-sur-Mer
Gender: Male
i absolutely love this one. the LD and Gorge ones are the best i've heard so far. don't care much for the speed-Wash - i think it ruins the mood of this song and since its mood is its key feature, welp... anyway, it's a song i always include in PJ mixtapes.
4 stars since the lyrics are quite meh but the music and Ed's intensity make up for it.

_________________
http://jorgefarah.com/2012/03/27/chiendent-the-demented-the-rousing-and-the-sublime/


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:21 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Former PJ Drummer
 Profile

Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:00 pm
Posts: 19826
Location: Alone in a corridor
this is a strange one where I don't really care that much for the song, but I did love to hear it live. It was kinda special. Still, not that good a song imo.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:28 am 
Offline
User avatar
Johnny Guitar
 Profile

Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:57 am
Posts: 297
Location: Fort Waste, IN
Loved this song since the first time I heard it, and loved it in Cleveland this year.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:26 pm 
Offline
Yeah Yeah Yeah
 Profile

Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 2:12 am
Posts: 3783
I never really cared for this song. I don't sense the atmosphere that was mentioned above. However, I do have a quick "Wash" story.

I bought the Alive single for my friend (we must have been 12 or so). Anyway, I bought it for his birthday because I wanted to hear the b-sides. Turns out he wasn't much of a PJ fan. He insisted that we not open it, basically because he wanted to return it and get the few bucks instead. I didn't actually hear Wash until maybe five years later. Unfortunately, I was unimpressed with the tune and I still am. I like fast Wash because it's different and crazy, but regular Wash, especially live, is a snoozer for me.

3 stars.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 8:42 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Of Counsel
 Profile

Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am
Posts: 37778
Location: OmaGOD!!!
Gender: Male
stip wrote:
nice write up. You're right--this is a particularly 'atmospheric' song for the Ten sessions. I never saw this as a song about prostitution, but that interpretation certainly works.


I never really considered the "sin to sell" line before, and doing so now, I see the prostitution angle as well. I always saw it about cheating, or otherwise elicit sex, much like SOLAT, but this seems a more integrated interpretation.

_________________
Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 4:31 am 
Offline
User avatar
Coast to Coast
 Profile

Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:21 am
Posts: 23078
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gender: Male
I'm 100% certain this song isn't actually about anything.

_________________
For more insulated and ill-informed opinions, click here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 4:55 am 
Offline
User avatar
Stone's Bitch
 Profile

Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 5:38 am
Posts: 999
Location: Argentina
It's a cool opener, but an average song. 3 stars.

_________________
I'm in hiding


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:03 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
stip wrote:
nice write up. You're right--this is a particularly 'atmospheric' song for the Ten sessions. I never saw this as a song about prostitution, but that interpretation certainly works.


I never really considered the "sin to sell" line before, and doing so now, I see the prostitution angle as well. I always saw it about cheating, or otherwise elicit sex, much like SOLAT, but this seems a more integrated interpretation.



Now that i'm thinking about this prostitution angle, I wonder if this song is about AIDS or something like that

"what she don't know today might kill us both tomorrow"

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:04 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
theplatypus wrote:
I'm 100% certain this song isn't actually about anything.


I'm 85% certain you're wrong

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: SOTM#164: What she don't know today...
PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:04 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Red Mosquito, my libido
 Profile

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am
Posts: 91597
Location: Sector 7-G
I bet it's just an attempt to write a song with all this dark, dingy, dirty imagery in it with no real meaning.

_________________
It takes a big man to make a threat on the internet.


Top
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 47 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Board index » Watched from the Window, with a Red Mosquito... » Pearl Jam


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 42 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
It is currently Wed Jul 09, 2025 7:49 am